


One More Danger of Brain Eating

by sillita



Category: iZombie (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillita/pseuds/sillita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We have two problems." Liv was pacing across the room. "One, they will only find half of the brain in Mr. Richards' head. Two, the other half is currently... In my stomach."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It seems that I possibly like to make the characters sick, or something. Or maybe I just like medicine. I don't know.  
> Also, while I did try to make the story medically probable, not everything about it is 100% correct. So if you want reliable information on this topic, this is not a good place to look for it. Quite obviously :)

"And believe me, nothing's better than a colorful drink with an umbrella on a sandy beach. It was... it was awesome, it was relaxing, oh, I want to spend every single day of my life on holidays!"  The enthusiasm of Ravi's monologue was contagious and Liv's eyes were shining with joy as she was finishing sipping her brain cocktail. "And what were you up to while I was gone? Didn't do too much damage to my morgue, I hope?"

" _Your_ morgue, aren't you exaggerating?" Liv grinned. "It was absolutely fine. I didn't even notice you were gone."

"Oh, really? You didn't miss me?" Ravi faked irritation as he put on his lab coat. "That's unacceptable."

"Of course I missed you, it was weird, not having anyone wince at my food. It was weirdly calm. And awesome," she laughed as she saw Ravi grab his chest, pretending to be deeply hurt. "And relaxing..." Her voice went from amused to surprised as she saw a man enter the room. A man in a white, sealed hazmat suit.

"Are you the only people present in the building?" His voice was muffled, but understandable.

"Yes, we..." started Liv, but the man interrupted her.

"Gary Parker, CDC. You're under quarantine. Please walk to the next room, we need to secure the bodies."

Liv gave Ravi a scared glance, as he put his hand on her shoulder and walked to the office with her.

***

" I can't be in quarantine. Ravi, you know I can't be in quarantine," Liv repeated, at least for the tenth time in the last few minutes.

"Liv, calm down, we'll figure something out. We don't know anything yet, maybe it's a short quarantine, maybe it's about... the flu." He tried to joke, but Liv didn't even smile.

"What if it's about... You know what?" Liv gasped. "What if they find Hope?" Her eyes got wide with fear.

"Believe me, it's not about it. I worked there, literally _no one_ there believes in this kind of stuff." Ravi shook his head. "I don't know what would have to happen for them to treat _it_ like an actual possibility. Blaine could gather his friends and organise a party in their office, they would still think he's just a pale weirdo."  He said quietly, not without a bit of disappointment in his voice.

The door creaked and the man walked in. Still fully suited, he looked like someone from a science fiction movie.

"The bodies were secured and taken to be disposed of. You can leave this room, but you are not allowed to leave the building until further notice. It will be sealed off." He explained with an official tone. Liv got up.

"Wait, what's going on? Can you tell us what is it about?"

"I have no clear information yet. You will be informed when we know something for certain."

"But..." Liv started, but Ravi cut her off.

"Ravi Chakrabarti, MD, previously a medical officer for the CDC. I understand there's no definite information, but can you explain on what suspicion are you working?"

The man in the suit looked at the chart he was holding.

"Mark Richards, a patient of yours, was possibly exposed to Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease before his death." He was totally emotionless, staring at the documents. "We have no certainty that he actually contracted the disease until we analyze his brain tissue."

Liv made eye contact with Ravi, but it didn't make her feel even a tiny bit better, since he looked just as terrified as she felt.

"Await further instructions." The man added and left the morgue.

***

"We have two problems." Liv was pacing across the room. Usually Ravi would have tried to stop her, but now he was staring at the floor, and Liv didn't even know if he was paying attention. "One, they will only find half of the brain in Mr. Richards' head. Two, the other half is currently... In my stomach." She stopped and looked at her friend. "Ravi, are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, so, um, we... we tell them that we... dropped the brain." Ravi rubbed his forehead, thinking intensively. "We dropped the brain, it splashed, there was nothing to salvage, we had to cut off the damaged part. They will probably whine about disinfecting the entire building more thoroughly, but won't investigate any further. Problem one solved."

"What about problem two?" Liv tilted her head to look into Ravi's eyes.

"We'll think about it." Ravi tried to sound reassuringly, but he had nothing reassuring to say. He rubbed the back of his neck. "There's one good thing."

"What is it? I could use a good thing right now."

"The quarantine, it probably won't last long."

"Why?" Liv looked at him surprised.

"Well, they probably only made us sit here in case it was something different than Creutzfeldt–Jakob. If they confirm it was it, they'll let us go, because... it's not transmitted by droplet contact. We couldn't have caught it just by being in one room with the guy. Not even while doing an autopsy." Ravi didn't look any happier, which made Liv ask the next question.

"And how _is_ it transmitted?"

"By blood transfusion. Or... or by ingesting an infected tissue." Ravi gave her a worried look. She covered her face with her hands.

"So we're back to problem two." Liv said after a moment.

"Back to problem two," repeated Ravi quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ravi...?" Liv said when she saw him come back with a mug of tea. "I think something's wrong."

"I think you should puke."  
"What?" Liv raised her head. She was sitting by the wall with her knees close to her chest. Ravi was ravaging the database of infectious diseases, but he wouldn't let her touch any of the textbooks, saying it could tamper with her symptoms. She knew he was right, but it was still hard to just sit there and do nothing while Ravi was searching for a way of minimizing the risk of her getting ill all by himself.   
"I think you should puke, I mean, the thing is caused by prions and when we're talking about prions, and honestly no one really knows how they work. Actually, many people thought they weren't real just a few years ago... Anyway, it's possible that the prions haven't gotten to your nervous system yet, so if you puke now..."  
"Okay."  
"But we'll need to dispose of it later on."   
"What?" Liv asked again.  
"It's really hard to decide, when no one actually knows what prions are. But I think burning it later should minimise the risk of transmission."  
"You said it's not transmittable by droplets."  
"See, that's the problem, no one really knows..." Ravi started explaining, but he stopped himself. "Actually, I can explain later. You should get to it."   
"There's one more problem." Liv looked at him, exasperated. "If I puke now, I'll get hungry right away. They took away all the bodies. I'll have nothing to eat."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah."  
"We'll worry about it later."  
"No, Ravi, we can't worry about it later." Liv got up and started pacing again. "There's no way I'm getting hungry in a quarantine."  
"We could try to contain you..." Ravi ruffled his hair thoughtfully.  
"And what, let the CDC find me? No, thanks, that's not an ideal outcome for me." She crossed her arms. "Besides, I started eating the guy yesterday, what are the chances that he hasn't gotten to my system yet?"   
"Not big, probably," Ravi admitted quietly.

  
***  
"How are you feeling?", asked Ravi, entering the room. She was sitting on the couch, watching a rerun of some wildlife documentary. She wasn't even sure what was it about.  
"I don't know," she shrugged, "I don't think anything really weird is happening. But I don't know. Ravi, are you sure I can't at least glance at the textbook? I don't even know what should I look for."  
"If you look at the textbook, I can guarantee, you'll feel all the symptoms right away." Ravi smiled apologetically. "Come on, you know that's how it works, Liv. I don't believe you didn't experience medical student hypochondria."  
"Well, maybe I did." Liv admitted reluctantly.  
"Everyone did," grinned Ravi. "One week, I was totally convinced I had lupus."  
"It's not that hard to be convinced that you have lupus. It gives literally all the symptoms in the world," Liv said and managed to smile a little bit.  
"I know, right? Totally understandable." Ravi laughed. "So, you're okay?"  
"I think I'm okay for now."  
"Do you want some tea?"  
"Maybe?" She nodded. Ravi patted her on the shoulder and went to put the kettle on.

  
***  
"Ravi...?" Liv said when she saw him come back with a mug of tea. "I think something's wrong."   
Her boss put the mug down quickly and sat by her side.  
"What is it?" He asked and started to take her pulse.  
"I don't know, I'm kinda dizzy." Liv explained faintly. "And my head feels weird. Feels numb."  
"Numb?" Repeated Ravi, watching her attentively. "Can you feel that?" He asked, poking her cheek. She moved his hand back from her face.  
"Not like totally numb, it just feels... a bit off." She shook her head. "Was there something like that in your textbook?" She looked at him with fear in her eyes. Ravi shrugged.  
"I'll check it. Are you sure that... you don't want to breathe into a paper bag, or something?" He asked carefully, afraid that Liv might feel offended. He was quite right to be afraid of that.  
"I'm not having a panic attack!" She exclaimed, standing up. As soon as she did, her vision went dark and she fell. She woke up lying on the couch she was just trying to get off a few moments ago. Ravi was covering her with a blanket. "What is..."  
"Shhhh, try to sleep a bit." Ravi interrupted her. "You'll be fine."  
"I wouldn't be so sure."  
"You will be. Especially because that guy from the CDC called while you were... you know, out." Ravi said. "Mark Richards didn't have Creutzfeldt–Jakob. Nor did the person he had contact with. It was all just one, big panic attack." He grinned as he watched Liv sit up quickly.  
"I did not have a panic attack." She looked a bit annoyed.  
"Oh, I was talking about the CDC, they panicked about the whole issue. But if you mentioned it... You kinda did." Ravi wrinkled his nose.   
"You would have acted the same if you were me!"  
"Possibly." Ravi laughed.  
"Besides," Liv got up and walked up to Ravi. "Congratulations on your beautiful neurological assessment skills." She poked him on the cheek with her finger. "Can you feel that?" She mimicked him mockingly.  
"Come on, are you going to offend the one true friend that stood beside you in a face of disease?" Ravi pretended to be outraged, but there were hints of laugh in his voice.   
"Possibly." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I will never ever again divide anything into two chapters. As soon as I posted the first one, the second part started to look so rubbish that for a moment I considered never posting it. But, yeah, here it is. I mean, was. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
